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Smart helmets will confuse soldiers

By Vincent Kiernan

Washington DC

THE US Army’s plans to equip its soldiers with flip-down video displays
inside their helmets could be life-threatening, according to a study from the
National Academy of Sciences. Infantry are likely to be disoriented by the
device, the study warns.

The helmet-mounted display, linked to computers and a variety of sensors, is
intended to give soldiers easy access to maps, satellite pictures, messages from
their commanders and night-time views of the battlefield taken by infrared
sensors. It is a key feature of the Army’s vision of the soldier of the future,
known in the Pentagon as the 21st Century Land Warrior, who will come equipped
with laser weapons and new protective clothing.

But an academy committee, convened by the Army, said last week that the
head-mounted display selected by the Army is less desirable than one worn on a
soldier’s wrist or held in the hand.

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The display favoured by the Army would be positioned about one inch in front
of one eye, leaving an unblocked field of view for the other eye. That
arrangement could seriously disorient a soldier on the battlefield, particularly
if the display screen is bombarding the soldier with information in the midst of
the chaos of battle, warns the committee. By blocking one of the eyes, it could
also interfere with the ability to judge distance. Extended use of the display
screens could cause eyestrain in soldiers as well, the report adds.

And by blocking one of the eyes, the display screen could inadvertently
obscure the soldier’s view of an enemy on the battlefield, the academy warns.
The committee wants the Army to proceed with the helmet displays only in an
“experimental mode”, conducting tests to see how serious the problems really
are.